Building in Norrstrom
Makalos
(unequalled) was the colloquial name for the grand mansion, or
palace
, of the Swedish noble family
De la Gardie
. Situated at
Norrstrom
, south of
Kungstradgarden
in
Stockholm
and vis-a-vis the
Royal Palace
, the building was completed in 1653 and demolished in 1825 after a fire.
Construction
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Construction of the mansion was begun in the 1630s on a piece of land owned by
Jakob De la Gardie
. De la Gardie tasked
Hans Jacob Kristler
with the construction. The five-floor building was built of brick and stone with a copper roof. The living quarters were situated in the ground floor, the festivities hall on the second (
piano nobile
), dancing and music rooms on the third, and stores and armoury on the fourth and fifth floors. The cellar comprised larders, while housekeeping facilities, stables and gardens were situated outside the main building. Four towers marked the corners of a facade richly decorated with
stone masonry
and adorned with
bay windows
and column-supported
loggias
in Italian style. The interior was equally splendid, with
stucco
decorations, picturesque
plafonds
,
tapestries
, decorative masonry, and galleries of paintings.
This engraving from
Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna
shows
Kungstradgarden
facing south towards
Norrstrom
. Makalos is depicted near the centre of the image,
Saint James's church
to the right, and the Royal palace in the background.
At the time of construction, the building's size and architecture stood in stark contrast to the humble surroundings and were unrivalled in Sweden. Although the mansion was colloquially known as "Makalos", the De la Gardie family referred to it exclusively as
Stora huset
("the great house").
Jakob De la Gardie died in 1652 and his widow
Ebba Brahe
moved into a mansion in
Gotgatan
that had formerly been owned by the
De Geer
family.
Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie
inherited Makalos, together with the family's extensive properties in Sweden and Finland. The
reduction
in 1684 cost him the greatest part of his property, with the exception of
Venngarn Castle
, where he died two years later. Under the ownership of the crown, Makalos was used as a warehouse and later as an
arsenal
and
armoury
for over a century. When Sweden's reigning aesthete
Gustav III
decided to reorganise the capital's theatres, it was chosen as the venue for the
Royal Dramatic Theatre
, an institution that exists to this day. The theatre, then named
Nya Dramatiska Teatern
, opened in 1793. It was also known as the "arsenal theatre".
Destruction by fire
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On 24 November 1825, a fire broke out during a performance. When smoke was smelled, actor
Lars Hjortsberg
, speaking from the stage, informed the audience of this and asked them to leave the building. All spectators were safely evacuated, though three employees died in the fire. The building suffered severe damage and was subsequently torn down. A number of stone sculptures were saved, some of which were incorporated into private mansions, while others ended up in various museums, such as the
Nordic Museum
. A number of artifacts are exhibited at the
Stockholm metro
's
Kungstradgarden station
, close to the former location of Makalos.
Scale model
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A model of Makalos at the Stockholm City Museum.
A detailed model of the mansion is exhibited at
Stockholm City Museum
.
59°19′47.5″N
18°4′20.3″E
/
59.329861°N 18.072306°E
/
59.329861; 18.072306